Elsdorf is a rural community with city rights 30 kilometers west of Cologne between Bergheim and Jülich in the Rhenish lignite mining area. In the southwest, the urban area borders the Hambach opencast mine, which takes up large parts of the urban area. The districts of Etzweiler, Tanneck and the Gesolei settlement were relocated. The resettlement location is Neu-Etzweiler. The original plans for the Hambach opencast mine envisaged the later expansion of the opencast mine to today's A 61 (“Hambach II”). 2.015 billion m³ of lignite are still stored here today. This is significantly more than the 1.650 billion m³ predicted at the time for the Garzweiler II opencast mine (= Frimmersdorf West-West). However, dismantling would require relocation of all districts.
Elsdorf borders on: the town of Bedburg, the district town of Bergheim, the Kolping town of Kerpen (all in the same district), the communities of Merzenich (indirectly), Niederzier (indirectly) and Titz (all in the Düren district).